Emotional toll of constant negative news and unlimited access to ‘doomscrolling’ has led to record-high news avoidance
News has never been more accessible – but for some, that’s exactly the problem. Flooded with information and relentless updates, more and more people around the world are tuning out.
The reasons vary: for some it’s the sheer volume of news, for others the emotional toll of negative headlines or a distrust of the media itself. In online forums devoted to mindfulness and mental health, people discuss how to step back, from setting limits to cutting the news out entirely.
I don’t even want to get going about the state of science news. It’s no wonder our society doesn’t care about things like the CDC or NASA anymore, there is no stable source of truth for actual developments and discoveries.
When every goddamn news feed runs headlines like “SCIENTISTS HORRIFIED BY STRUCTURES FOUND UNDERNEATH MARS” or “ASTRONOMERS BAFFLED AT FLOATING EYEBALL PLANETS” (both actual headlines) is it any wonder nobody cares about funding missions to land probes on Europa or that people don’t trust mRNA vaccines?
I hate, hate, HATE when they’ve done to science reporting. I have to sit through employees and coworkers every day talking about real mermaids and the healing power of essential oils and magic water crystals curing cancer and so on. For the average person who can only get their news from a passing feed and has time only for headlines, why would we expect them to be able to discern the difference between scams and grifts and actual science? It’s frustrating and will do far more damage to us than the political divide in the long run.
Amen.
Technology is as bad. It’s all just ads for phones. There is fuck all concerning actual developments in… you know. FUCKING TECHNOLOGY.